India’s 1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev said that the timing of Virat Kohli’s statements, on Wednesday, shone the spotlight on the differences with the BCCI on the matter of leadership and believes it could have been avoided just before an important tour of South Africa.
The Indian Test team have left for South Africa on 16 December and Kohli said on the eve of that BCCI President Sourav Ganguly’s statement that the Board had requested him not to step down as T20I captain were inaccurate.
“It is not good to point fingers on anybody at this point in time. The South Africa tour is coming and please pay attention to the tour,” Kapil told ‘ABP News’ when asked about Kohli’s remarks.
“I would say Board president is Board president but yes the Indian cricket team captain is also a big thing. But talking badly about each other in public, I don’t think it is a good thing, whether it is Sourav or Kohli.”
Kapil urged Kohli to take control of the situation and think about the team.
“Aap situation ko control kijiye, behtar ye hai ki aap desh ke baare mein sochiye (Please control the situation and it’s better to think about the country now),” said the former skipper who played 134 Tests between 1978 and 1994 and took 434 wickets along with making 5248 runs.
“Jo galat hai woh kal pata chal hi jayega (the truth will come to light eventually) but I don’t think it is right to stoke a controversy before a tour,” he said.
The BCCI has not yet reacted to Kohli’s comments.
(With PTI Inputs)
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